JULY 2016 | BOROMAG.COM | 23 You have been open for 2.5 Years, whY do an article now? Well, this is a challenging business and a challenging neighborhood with a lot of great restaurants that bring their ‘A’ game. We bring something new to the table, a new concept of sorts, and it has taken us a little bit of time to fine tune things and get our confidence level up. It takes time to get the right team together and to make it feel as though we are running on all cylinders and can tread further with a little more swag. So, we felt the time was right to bring our story to the masses. how has astoria treated You? Honestly, we looked at other locations in Park Slope, Williamsburg, Manhattan, etc. Astoria felt right. It was scary of course once we got the keys and a full build out was looming. But, Astoria is a tight community where the residents are in tune and in the know as to whats going on around them and we felt that we were gonna be given a chance here. It was up to us to bring a great product, great service, with an exceptional atmosphere to have our guests coming back. Thankfully we have a great following and we appreciate every single guest that walks through our door. what is the biggest misconception people have about Your restaurant? Um, the word ‘Hot-Dogs’. We are not a ‘Hot-Dog Joint’! We have something called ‘Signature Dogs’ that are gourmet sausages, grilled to order, and are topped with unique and delicious house-made toppings. On top of that we have superior Mac n’ Cheese, killer Chicken Wings, outstanding Burgers, sexy Signature Cocktails, and a cool ‘Build Your Own Brunch’ concept that we are super happy with. There’s also a great outdoor dining area that was a huge selling point as far as solidifying our lease. rumor has it You have no prior restaurant experience, what have You learned? what are You most proud of? Yes, ‘tis is true. My Father, who is a co-founder of NYDH, and I had zero restaurant experience. We frequented many but never worked or operated one. But, believing in the concept and the brand keeps you going. Meeting, working, and surrounding yourself with extremely talented, loyal, and hard-working people who become attached to the concept and the brand is what I’m proud of. Being here right now having this interview about something that never existed before and still keeps going makes me extremely proud. Oh, and I have to tip my hat to the Food Network! who/what inspired You take on this project? There was never a plan for this project. It all kind of fell into our laps and we went with it. As mentioned above, we believe in it for some crazy reason and everyone involved thus far believes in it also so it’s hard to just kind of stop it. But, once we got going I looked back on people such as Michael Jordan, Lars Ulrich from Metallica, just for their drive, focus, and dedication. They were a huge part of my teenage years. Still are actually. I read Phil Jackson’s book ‘Eleven Rings’ before opening to get an idea on how to put a team of people together with different personalities, egos, etc., on one page with one goal. Also, I read Joe Bastianich’s book ‘The Restaurant Man’ to get an idea of what we are getting ourselves into. Currently I’m inspired by our guests. It never gets old to hear rave reviews and have guests keep coming back. And also, which is very important, listening to your guests if they feel something is not right. Your ego has to be put aside and adjustments need to be made to help the business grow. this might be a tough one but 6 what are Your favorite items on the menu? Hm, currently, the tail end of June, and I’ll pick one from each category, I would say the ‘MAC Attack’ Fritters, ‘Dragon’ Wings, ‘Psycho’ Mac n’ Cheese, the ‘Coney Island’ Signature Dog, the ‘Cowboy’ Burger, and the ‘Cheesecake Cakes’ are definitely worth checking out! what is the end goal? whats the ultimate goal with this project? The first thing we did was trademark the name and the concept. We felt as though this deserves more than just one location so 5 locations worldwide was always my dream and vision. But, again, its a challenging business and we can only control what we can control and that is work hard, stay focused, stay consistent, and I feel that the right things will fall into place where need be. 1 2 3 4 5 7 7 questions with: Vlad Stern, GM/Co-Founder
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